High price of extra water (letter)

by Chris Rule

News Weekly, July 16, 2005

Sir,

Pat Byrne, in his article, "Water trade to shift water from farms to cities", indicates that farmers "pay about $50-100 a megalitre as a delivery and infrastructure charge for high-security water" (News Weekly, July 2, 2005.)

He then goes on to say that for "low-security water, that is, extra water ... they may pay a slightly higher price".

The position is far worse. I know that in the Sunraysia district of Victoria, the going price for "extra water" for farmers is between $1,200-1,450 per megalitre.